A Classic 3 Layer Carrot Cake

Photo: theheritagecook - 8'' carrot cake

My usual carrot cake is this recipe. But today I'm turning carrot cake into a birthday cake by making a rich, but not altogether unhealthy recipe from Southern Living. A birthday cake must have layers, right? Yes, it must!

Carrot Cake - turned up a notch:

Ingredients: 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Sometimes I use part whole wheat flour.)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (= 1 stick)

1/2 cup olive oil (or vegetable oil)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup flaked coconut
1 1/2 cup toasted pecans
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
3 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup peeled and grated apple

Directions:

Take out two mixing bowls - one for dry and one for wet ingredients --
1) Wisk together the first seven (dry) ingredients, uniformly.
2) Stir together the next five (wet) ingredients, one at a time, beating with an electric mixer if you wish.
3) Combine the wet and dry agredients together. Incorporate, but don't over beat.
4) Fold in the grated carrots, grated apple, flaked coconut and toasted pecans.
5) Pour the batter into, choose one: (a) 3-greased 8 inch; or (b) 2-greased 9 inch cake pans.
6) Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a tester (I use a metal potato nail; you can use a fork) comes out clean.
7) Remove the cakes from the oven, and let cool 10-15 minutes. Next remove from the pans and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

Ingredients:

8oz cream cheese
1/3 cup milk
1 box powder sugar
2 teaspoons real vanilla (I use more.)

Directions:

1) Mix all the ingredients together. Start with the cream cheese and milk. Add as much of the powder sugar as needed to get the right rich, yet creamy consistency. 
2) If you use 9 inch cake pans, you can carefully slice the center of each baked cake after cooled to get 4 layers, if you wish. (So depending on how ambitious you are, you will need to frost 2, 3 or 4 layers of cake.) As usual, frost the top, layers and sides of the cake. Extra tip: Professional bakers frost a cake 2-3 times to make it look beautiful. Refigerate the cake to let the icing set before repeating.
3) Finish by sprinkling the top with additional toasted pecans.

Judging by the crumbs and a lick of the frosting, this is a delicious cake. Can't wait for everyone to taste it! 

Lots of candles to add. Yikes, we are getting soo old!

9 '' carrot cake

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